Description:
Panel entitled: Representations of Brazil and Shifting Identities
Proposal deadline:
May , 2009
Contact information:
Aleca Le Blanc, University of Southern California, aleblanc@usc.edu
Elena Shtromberg, University of Utah, e.shtromberg@utah.edu
Additional information:
Visual representations of “Brazilianness,” undertaken by both Brazilians and foreigners resist facile categorization. From seventeenth-century Dutch paintings of Brazilian landscapes to recent depictions of Rio de Janeiro in the film Cidade de Deus, representations of Brazil and their attendant aesthetic formats have spoken to shifting perceptions of racial, gender and cultural identities. We invite papers that address the ideology of representation in the Brazilian context from the colonial encounter to contemporary culture. Our panel will explore different models for representing Brazil as well as their ethical, aesthetic, and/or social repercussions. Possible questions include: what do the shifting models of visual representation add to our understanding of Brazilian history? Do we reinforce essentialized traits of Brazilianness through scholarly investigation and inscription of them? Do representations of brasilidade share a visual language with those of other Latin American countries? Presenters are encouraged to engage with discourses surrounding nationalism, modernism, under-development and post-